GARDEN & ORCHARD.

Otago Witness, Issue 3524, 27 September 1921, Page 7

GARDEN & ORCHARD.

By

D. Tannock.

WORK FOR TIIE WEEK. TIIE CKEEXHOUHE AND XUB4EEY. As the days get longer and the sun stronger there is need for some permanent shading on the plant and propagating houses, but those devoted to tomatoes and vines should not be shaded. When properly ventilatc-d they can stand all the sunshine they get. Blinds which will roll up when the sun is obscured are the very best but they are troublesome, and I find that we have sufficient sunshine during the summer to stand permanent shading of the glass with white paint or whitewash. I prefer thin paint stippled with a half-worn brush or a brush mads for the purpose. It is a little bit heavy at first, but by the autumn is getting thin, and is sufficient for the winter sun. The plant houses will require plenty of air on warm sunny days, but cold draughts should be avoided and the ventilators should be closed early in tile afternoon to shut in sun heat. Maintain a moist atmosphere by damping the paths and benches frequently and syringe all foliage and growing plants overhead twice a day when the weather is warm. THE FLOWED GARDEN. Weather and soil conditions are still suitable for the planting cf trees and shrubs, but this work should not be delayed longer than is necessary for leaf growth is now very evident on most of the deciduous kinds. Among the many beautiful spiing dowering shrubs there are few brighter than the Forsythias or Golden li 11 shrubs. They are natives of China and .Japan, and were named after William Forsyth, the King’s gardener at Kensington, about the beginning of last century. They are very hardy and the long slender shoots can be trained on a wall or fence or over an archway, where they are veiy effective, or they can be allowed to good sized bushes. If pruning has to bo done it is best immediately after flowering, but they are more effective when only thinned out a little to prevent their becoming a tangled mass. F. Suspensa is the best, though there is a strong growing variety called Fortuni which is quite as effective, but F. viridissima is not quite as good and not so effective. Tbev are easily grown from cuttings of young ripened wood which can be put in in the autumn along with the other hardwoeded cuttings. Another very effective shrub at the present time is the white flowered variety of Daphne Mezereum. The commoner purple flowered kind is quite good, but not so snowy or so free in flowering as the white form, every shoot being covered with its sweet scented waxlike flowers which are followed later on with showy berries. Being a neat little shrub it is quite suitable for filling a small bed which can be carpeted with grape hyacinths, Scilla sibcrica, or Chionodoxa Lucilla. or it can be grouped in the front of the shrubbery or planted on the rock garden. Daphne indica is a sweet scented prostrate shrub suitable for the rock garden or a shrubbery on a bank, and is esteemed for its sweet scented flowers which are produced on the ends of the branches. Daphne Ctieoruni. the Garland flower, is a slender dwarf spreading shrub, from six to 10 inches high, and bearing rosy-lilac flowers which are so sweet scented that the air often seems charged with their fragrance. It is a native of Europe, and is a true alpine shrub suitable for planting on the rock garden in a sunny pocket filled with a soil composed of sandy peat. It is usually propagated by layering. Daphne Laureola is a British plant with yellowish green flowers, which are not at all attractive, but it will thrive under trees, and is commonly called the Wood Laurel. It grows to a height of from three to four feet, and is an evergreen with thick glossy leaves. Anemone coronaria, the Poppy Anemone, is one of the most admired of the tuberous rooted plants in the spring garden. There are many varieties, both single and double, and they tange in colour from pure white through pink to scarlet and the deepest crimson, and from lavender blue to purple. The best method of propagation is from seed, and to secure the best results the most desirable flower; are marked by fixing a little label or a t ie.ee of raffia I to the flower stalk, then collecting the seed heads just before thov arc ripe with the stalk and all, and placing then! in a paper bag where they will complete the ripening process. If left to ripen on the plants they are liable to be blown a wav The seed should be sown as soon as it I is ripe, and to separate it thoroughly it is spread out on a paper and mixed With a quantity of dry sand, ashes, or fine earth, rubbing ir together until separation is complete. Make up n well-drained bed in a warm sunny position and sow the seeds thinly on it. covering them with a very little fine soil and firming and smoothing the covering «oil with the back of the spade. Shade by tacking a piece of scrim on to a frame about six inches above the seed bed. or by spreading some pieces of scrub over it. but this must be removed as soon as the seedling- nppeav. which should be in about 20 days. When the seedlings are large r no'qh to handle they Can be thinned out to six inches apart, the thinnings being pricked out on other'prepared beds in the nursery or into the borders where they are to grow. 'They like a good rich moist soil, not too heavy, and are suitable for growing in beds by themselves or under standard roses, ns edgings for borders or as groups in the herbaceous border. Dry tubers carrv well, and both the Poppy \ncmone and A. Fulgens can lie imported from Messrs Vilmorin. Andretix, and Go., Quai de la Megisserie. Paris. Hardy Annuals. -Hardy annuals are very useful in trio flow e?- garden, either !o fill up gaps in the herbaceous border where spring-flowering bulbs have been, to brighten up shrubberies during the summer when tnere arc few flowering trees or shrubs, or for filling borders by themselves. They can either 1 o sown in rows like a ribbon border or in groups like the tierbaceous border. tine of ihe features of Messrs Sutton’s trial grounds at Reading is the long, wide borders devoted entirely to annuals, mostly hardy, and though the show may not last very long, ii is very bright when at its best. I lardy annuals also provide much good material for house decoration, godetias, clarkias, and mignonette being particularly useful. There are two ways of treating them. fine is to raise them in boxes line the half-hardy kinds, and after pricking out, planting them in bor-

tiers, and this is the best method when they are to succeed spring-flowering bulbs. They can be planted out when the bulb foliage ripens off. The usual method is to sow them where they are to grow, and it is certainly the least troublesome. The soil should be deeply dug and made fairly rich with stable manure, bone dust, or basic phosphate. Fork it up to break all clods, and make the surface smooth and fine with the rake. When sowing in the mixed border mark out irregular patches, and sow the seed thinly and evenly all over the surface inside the mark. Rake it in a little and firm it with the head of the rake, then cover w ith just sufficient soil to hide all the seeds. Mark with a label and firm the covering with the back of tire spade. When sowing in rows, a drill about half an inch deep is drawn with the corner of the hoe. Ihe seed is sown in it, and covered with fine soil and firmed with the head of the rake. It is really better to cover the seeds with fine, clean, prepared soil, such as old potting soil, or river silt —a few barrow loads will cover a great many seeds. Another method of sowing small patches is to prepare the soil ns already described, and then to make a circle with in Gin or Sin not. Sow the seeds in the drill formed by the pot, and cover in the usual way. After sowing, cover with a few pieces of scrub, which help to keep the soil moist and to keep off birds, but this covering must be removed as soon as the seedlings appear, or they will become drawn and spindly. Thinning is most necessary, and it should be done in two operations—first, when the seedlings are just big enough to handle, and Inter on when they are two to three inches high, the distance apart varying according to the height to which the plants grow. A few good useful varieties are a? follow:—Alonso,! Warseewiezii. Aiyssum maritimum (sweet aiyssum), Braohycone iberidifolia (Swan River daisy), Calenduls officinalis (pot marigold), Centaurea eyanus (cornflower). Centaurea mosehata (Sweet Sultan), Calliofsis crimson and gold, Candytuft (hyacinth-flowered), Cl.u'kia elegans, cars. Salmon Queen and Scarlet Queen, Esehscholtzia new hybrids, Godetia Double lose and double pink and double lavender, Gypsophi! elegans. Larkspur (dwarf bedding), Lavatcra Sutton’s Lovliness. Limnanthes Douglasi, Lir.um grandiflorum scarlet, Lupines annual vans, Mignonette Machet and Carter’s Perfection, Nasturtium Tom Thumb. Poppy Shirley and Carnation flowered. Ornamental grasses are Brize media ITordeum jubatum, Lagurus ovatus, and Pcnniasetum longistylum. rilK VEGETABLE GARDEN. Continue to sow the main crop vegetable seeds and to plant out cabbage and cauliflower, to plant potatoes, and dig and manure all vacant ground. ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. “M. P.,” Mosgiel. Salvia bonfire can be raised from cuttings, though it is a little late to put them in now. Take off the young growths about 2in in length, with a heel if possible, and put them round the edge of a small pot, afterwards plunging the pot in bottom heat. When rooted, pot up into small pots (oin size), and gradually harden off. To destroy the hairy caterpillars spray your cinerarias with arsenate of lead or hellebore powder, loz of the arsenate to 2 gallons of water. PORT CHALMERS FLOWER SHOW. The Port Chalmers Horticultural Society held its annual show of spring flowers in the Garrison Hall on the 21st. The show was considered one of the best held at Port Chalmers, the superiority this 3 ear resting with the number and quality of the narcissi. Seedling narcissi were also more freely tabled than at previous shows. The entries of cut flowers (other than narcissi) and pot plants were satisfactory, and good work was evident in ihe decorative section. The school children’s section proved an attractive feature. Flowers on exhibition only included a good collection of narcissi from Mr Hart, of Lawrence. Mr A. M Carthy was judge of narcissi, and in his opinion this important section of the show displayed blooms of first-class quality. The seedling, be said, are pressing upwards, one bv one, and the imported varieties are being outclassed. Particularly was this the case with the grand old variety King Allred, which in constitution, colour, in perianth, and even its lino trumpet are now excelled. Several very line seedlings were shown as irumpts, but these, though of high quality, were, on the borderline between trumpets and incomparables. and therefore a new class “short trumpet’’ was required for them. Several of Mr Lowe's seedling raised at Otahuna were shown but these have not vet got quite accustomed to our climate. Again, the local exhibitors had hold their own in the culture of narcissi. The good narcissi display was the more remarkable in view of tlie continued drizzle of the past few days, which had hampered exhibitors considerably in the choosing of their blooms.